


You Can Die a Hero

by Shuufleur



Series: Trope Bingo Fills [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt Tony Stark, Post-Avengers: Infinity War, Trope Bingo Round 9, Villain Peter Parker, Visions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-16 23:35:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11839359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shuufleur/pseuds/Shuufleur
Summary: Or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.Peter watched as the Iron Man suit got hit by the missile.Peter smiled.





	You Can Die a Hero

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Trope Bingo round 9, square **Locked In**. 
> 
> Since I fell into the Spider-Man: Homecoming rabbit hole and all the fanfics about Peter & Tony as a family, I thought I'd contribute. 
> 
> This is not beta'd, so sorry for any mistakes. I think I used way too much italics but hey, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
> 
> If you want to know what happens to Tony, go to the end notes (I didn't want to spoil in the tags) 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> P.S.: There was no tag for Villain Peter Parker. Shocking.  
> P.S. bis: Yes, I quoted Batman. The quote is just so awesome. I thought it suited the story pretty well.

Crouched on a building, Peter watched as the Iron Man suit got hit by the missile. The explosion rattled the nearby windows. The suit went careening in the sky, sparks flying around, rapidly losing altitude. The red and gold colors created a contrast between the dark sky and the city lights. It almost felt like watching a shooting star.

Peter smiled. He ran and jumped off the building. He raised his hand and pressed on his web shooters to swing between the skyscrapers of Manhattan. He followed the path of Iron Man until he crashed somewhere on the edge of Central Park. Peter landed swiftly near the crater created by the suit’s crash landing. Bystanders were already filming and taking pictures of the fallen hero. Peter strolled to the suit, which was half buried in the pavement. Dust and smoke bellowed in the air, creating artistic figures.

As he approached the superhero, sparks surged from the arc reactor, the instrument blinking steadily out of light. With a chuckle, Peter knelt to grab the faceplate and tear it up. The alloy folded in half with a screech.

Tony Stark looked up to him, fear in his eyes. Blood was trickling from his nose, his mouth. A bruise started to form on his left cheek.

“P- Spider-Man?” The engineer garbled, scared, _actually scared_ of Peter.

Good, the young hero thought. It was only fair.

“Do you remember what you told me once? That I had to be better than you, or Captain America. Do you remember that Tony?”

Sweat dropped from the older man’s forehead and rolled on his cheeks. He looked on the verge of tears. The man blinked several times before letting out a groan of pain.

“Yes or no?” Peter asked with gritted teeth. His left hand hovered over Tony’s throat, and the man whimpered. Spider-Man smiled. Tony gulped audibly, his Adam’s apple bobbling up and down.

“Yes.” Tony finally answered weakly.

“Well, I _am_ better now. Better than you ever were, better than Captain America. Do you wanna know why?”

Tony’s breathing was coming in and out fast. He looked like he was bordering on a panic attack. He stared at Peter with his wide brown eyes. He looked so vulnerable under his hands.

“Because I got you.”

Tony’s eyes seemed to grow wider.

“I did what Captain America couldn’t. I caught the monster.” Peter whispered loud enough for Tony, but not for anyone in the vicinity.

“Pet-”

Tony’s voice broke when Peter grabbed his throat and started to tighten his finger. He could feel how his heart was beating fast like a small animal scared whithin an inch of his life.

Peter’s vision blurred for a second. Tony Stark _glitched._

_Peter! Wake up!_

A voice in his mind. The hero shook his head. Dammit. His conscience was bothering him again.

When he came back to himself and looked at Iron Man, his eyes were glassy, lifeless. His mouth was slack, his tongue had fallen a little backward in his mouth.

The arc reactor stopped.

Peter felt a grim satisfaction at this sight.

The great Tony Stark was dead, and he had been the one to kill him.

The crowd around him cheered.

_Peter! Please, wake up! Someone, help me, he’s not responsive, pl-_

Peter breathed in and forgot. He didn’t need this nagging voice to encroach on his victory.

*

 _“Dammit, Bruce, I’m telling you, he needs your help! You wanna lecture me on why it was reckless on my part to take a kid to Germany, you’re welcome to do that_ but after you save him! _… He- he took the hit. It was meant for me, and he’s- he’s alive, he’s just not_ here. _It’s like his mind is elsewhere. Bring him back. I’m begging you.”_

*

Tony Stark’s death was all over the news. Spider-Man could take pride in defeating one of the biggest monsters of all time. Captain America even came to thank him personally. He said what he great asset he was to their team. He said they would do great things together. He said the world was theirs now.

To the Enhanced.

*

 _“Peter, I don’t know if you can hear me. I hope you do… god, kid, you should have_ never _taken this hit! I never should have told you to fight Thanos. He’s too strong. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I’m going to fix this, I promise. May isn’t going to lose her nephew as well. I **promise**.”_

*

People feared them. And more than ever, they feared _him._ At first, it felt good: they were actually respecting Spider-Man. Not as the friendly neighborhood hero, but as a force to _be reckoned with._ He was dangerous and people finally recognized it. They saw him for who he really was.

 _A villain,_ a familiar voice suggested in his mind.

Peter shut his eyes, shut his mind. No, no, forget about that voice. Forget about Tony Stark. He wasn’t important.

Not anymore, not since Spider-Man was sixteen and a wide-eyed teenager. Not since he was this naive kid.

But, then, as weeks passed during Captain America’s reign of terror, as the Goblin made four assassination attempts on Spider-Man, attacks thwarted every time, Peter started to feel… something. He felt displaced like he wasn’t supposed to be here. He felt constricted in his skin, but most of all in his mind.

“You alright Spider-Man?” Crossbones asked him gruffly one day. The young hero cocked his head towards his teammate and smiled smugly. The mask hid how brittle it felt.

“I’m always fine.”

Spider-Man launched himself off of the building.

*

_“Peter, I know what to do. I’m going to bring you back. Just… when you wake up-”_

_A choked sob._

_“When you wake up, take care of them would you? May, Happy, Pepper and Rhodey of course, but also the team. They need you, you and your big heart and your innocence and your motormouth.”_

_A weary sigh._

_“Do me one last favor, Peter: never change.”_

*

Peter didn’t get better. If anything, he felt sicker. Things he could stand before just became _unbearably_ heavy on his conscience. He didn’t understand what was happening to him. Something was wrong, wrong, wrong.

He needed someone, he needed…

Aunt May.

Peter closed his eyes and tried to remember. Aunt May’s long dark hair, her cheeky grin when she thought she outsmarted Peter in nerd trivia, her worried look whenever Peter got a slight cold, her disgusting meatloaf, her laugh, her hugs, her _love._

I miss you so much.

That’s right. Peter couldn’t have her love anymore because she was dead, dead and buried. Tony Stark killed her. The man had deserved what had been coming. Peter punched the wall and inhaled. Exhaled. Plaster fell on the ground when he removed his hand.

He felt so tired suddenly.

Just for now, he was going to rest.

*

_Peter._

*

The sixteen year old slowly opened his eyes. He felt sluggish and a bit nauseous. He blinked a few times to make the blurriness go away and looked around. He was in a room, half-lit, curtains drawn. There was someone sitting on a chair beside him.

“Aunt May?” Peter called with a hoarse voice. His throat was scratchy and it made him cough.

May jumped out of her chair and hurried to get him a glass of water. She helped him drink a few sips before setting the glass on the nightstand. The fresh water soothed a little his sore throat.

“Oh, Peter, my baby boy. You’re awake, you’re finally awake.”

May started to cry as she cupped his head and kissed his hair.

“I’m fine, Aunt May.”

Peter felt his aunt nodding on his head, still sobbing.

“I thought I’d lost you…”

May broke away from Peter and sat back down on the chair, holding his hand.

“What happened?” Peter asked.

“Thanos… Thanos was defeated. Well, he left Earth. The Avengers saved the world.”

May smiled sadly, lips twisting with grief.

“They saved the world, and you’re alive. Those are the only things that matter to me right now.”

His aunt squeezed his hand. Her smile was happier now.

Peter wanted to know though. What he saw, what he felt in this… dream or vision, it felt real. Too real. He needed to know.

Where was Tony Stark?

But when he saw how exhausted, anguished, May looked, Peter decided to wait a little more.

*

Bruce Banner and Helen Cho came to see him after May left. They asked him a bunch of questions to see if he felt fine. He did feel fine. He felt a lot better than in his dream, his _nightmare_.

When Peter wanted to know what happened, Dr. Banner grimaced and hesitantly started to explain. He took a soft voice like Peter was a little kid who needed coddling.

“Dr. Banner, I may be sixteen but I’m a superhero. I’ve fought alone, I’ve fought with you. I can handle it.”

Banner huffed and looked at Cho with amusement. The other doctor quirked her lips, a fond expression on her face.

“Alright. Long story short, Thanos used the mind stone against you. It trapped you in… let’s say, your worst nightmare. We couldn’t break you out of it.”

“Oh.”

“Do you remember any of it?” Cho asked curiously.

Flashbacks to Tony’s pale face assaulted him.

“No… not a lot.” He tried to look calm but he wasn’t sure he had been successful.

“Well, in any case, we were able to get you out.”

Peter’s eyes traveled on the wall behind the two doctors. He opened his mouth to ask the question that was burning his tongue since he woke up.

“Where is Tony?”

The adults looked at each other before going back to Peter. The teenager knew this wasn’t good news. His throat closed up.

“He… knew how to save you.” Banner started cautiously. “When he confronted Thanos…”

The scientist stopped. He seemed overwhelmed for a second. He hid it pretty quickly with a kind expression.

“When he confronted Thanos,” Cho continued when Dr. Banner stayed silent. “he used another stone on Mr. Stark. He disappeared.”

“What do you mean?” Peter retorted, confused. “He’s… dead?”

Just the thought of it

_his eyes glassy, lifeless._

was unbearable.

“We don’t know. He just disappeared. The next thing we know, you’re awake. He saved Peter, but we don’t know how.” Cho admitted.

An exchange? His life for mine?

But Peter couldn’t voice this question, it was too hard.

As the news sank in, both doctors took their leave.

Alone in his room, Peter looked at the ceiling and finally let his tears fall freely.

Thanos made him live through his worst nightmare and yet, Peter didn’t feel like he completely left it.

**Author's Note:**

> In the visions, Tony dies. 
> 
> However, in reality, he only disappears. So. Not dead. I think.


End file.
